Eight Will Fall
In a land where magic is outlawed, eight criminals led by seventeen-year-old Larkin are sent on a mission to kill an ancient evil that plagues their kingdom. Descending into an underground realm full of unspeakable horrors, Larkin and her party must use their forbidden magic to survive what lies in wait, teeth sharp and jaws deadly.
As she fights for her life, Larkin finds a light in Amias, a fellow outlaw with a notorious past. Soon Larkin and Amias realize their fates are entwined. The eight of them were chosen for a reason.
But as the dangers multiply and her band of felons are picked off one by one, Larkin must confront a terrible truth: They were never meant to return.
Title: Eight Will Fall
Author: Sarah Harian
Genre: YA
Pages: 368 pages, Hardcover
Publishing Date: 11/26/2019
Publishing House: Henry Holt
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250196647
ISBN-13: 978-1250196644
My Review
Eight Will Fall is a dark, mysterious fantasy for teens, laced with some graphic horror aspects creating an adventure with a general sense of unease.
In a world where empaths aren't allowed to use their abilities anymore to channel people's emotions to create or destroy things, living has become difficult. Empaths are sent to mines to harvest luminite minerals to suppress empath magic collectively, and families are divided and sent away to camps.
Larkin, the seventeen-year-old main protagonist in the novel and her brother harvest in the mines for minimum wages to earn a living for the family. They have to look out for each other and keep it low or they'll be picked and sent away.
During a small incident at a shop where Larkin used a bit of empath magic to steal food, she is caught and brought in front of Melay, the Queen of the land. She then is sent in a dungeon where she meets other empaths and it turns out that Melay has a plan for them in mind.
There are dark forces at work on surrounding farms with multiple disappearances. When the queen had sent out soldier parties to investigate, they never returned from their mission. An old legend has it, that deep down in the "Reach", seven rebel empaths were imprisoned with their leader Kyran and a dark magic will rise one day from the said lore.
Larkin and five other empath teenagers, an empath soldier, and a non-empath scholar are sent after the soldier party to investigate the disappearances, but it comes at a price: The Queen is holding the families of the search party hostage as a bargaining chip.
Things become heated up deep down in the caves once the journey is underway....think zombie-like creatures, scary mind takeovers and transforming, fleshy magic!
It's dangerous and sure to give you the heebie-jeebies while you read. The perfectly dark adventure for rising horror fans unlike many other YA novels out there.
At first, I thought this book was a middle-grade novel, but I would say that'd be a bit much. Gouging out eye-balls and fleshy, self murdering appendages are a great part of this underground journey and young adult or older teen is where I would say the appropriate reading age is.
Now, I am not a real horror connoisseur, but I loved this story. There was a sharpness to the writing that's rather evocative and very assured in the ability to play with a reader's mind. At times very graphic to me, but mostly just right for my shock and awe ;)
In terms of originality, I think it is refreshingly dark and different and garners all my stars. I loved it.
Highly recommend!
